Category Archives: MMO design

Keep your shiny, I’ll stick with my rules.

Posted on December 21, 2009 by SynCaine

It would seem that a ‘silly’ argument sure provides a lot of discussion, so after half a dozen posts and hundreds of comments, what exactly have we learned from last Fridays Blog War™? For starters, the very fact that we … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogroll, Darkfall Online, MMO design, Rant, World of Warcraft | 21 Comments

What I REALLY meant to say regarding content.

Posted on December 18, 2009 by SynCaine

It’s funny that in the wall of text below, I never actually got to what I originally meant with my line of “DF has had more content added in a year than WoW has in 5”. The straw man Tobold … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, Housing, MMO design, PvP, Rant, World of Warcraft | 52 Comments

You call THAT content?

Posted on December 18, 2009 by SynCaine

Now this might be a first; Tobold starting Friday Blog Wars? Who is this guy, and where has the real Tobold/Gevlon gone? The funny thing about all of this is we are going by ‘numerical’ measure of content, as if … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, Housing, MMO design, PvP, Rant, World of Warcraft | 66 Comments

Initial overview of DarkFall’s Specialization system.

Posted on December 16, 2009 by SynCaine

At some point in development, DarkFall lost its skill cap and players were allowed to train every available skill to 100 without any penalties. It’s not clear when the cap disappeared, or exactly why, but it’s gone and not coming … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, MMO design | 17 Comments

A bit of WoW history to explain the LFG change.

Posted on December 15, 2009 by SynCaine

Yesterday’s post received a lot of good comments debating the merits of the new LFG tool and how it changes the social dynamic in WoW. What may have been lost or unclear in my post is that I believe the … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, MMO design, PvP, RvR, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 55 Comments

That’s not the kind of Multiplayer I’m looking for.

Posted on December 14, 2009 by SynCaine

It would appear that patch 3.3 has revolutionized World of Warcraft and ‘improved’ the game immensely, as everyone is discovering the amazing joy that is multiplayer in MMOs (Massively is still missing from the WoW equation, but one step at … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Patch Notes, World of Warcraft | 51 Comments

Personal and global DarkFall update

Posted on December 14, 2009 by SynCaine

I have a feeling the action in Agon will be picking up sometime soon. Since the release of CtS, siege action has been light as everyone tests all of the new options and gets re-familiar with everything, both from a … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, Housing, MMO design, Site update | 11 Comments

Sandbox Envy

Posted on December 10, 2009 by SynCaine

Having now seen the issue from both sides, I’d like to talk about something I’ll call ‘Sandbox Envy’. Sandbox Envy is basically what happens when you read about the really cool stuff happening in a sandbox game and compare it … Continue reading →

Posted in EVE Online, MMO design, Random, World of Warcraft | 74 Comments

First taste of Naval combat in DarkFall? Sweet, very sweet.

Posted on December 9, 2009 by SynCaine

Yarrr. And not a wannabe Yarrr where the only Yarrr’ing that happens is when you put on your pirate hat in town and pretend something pirate happened. No no. Real, actual pirate-like stuff happened last night, and it was glorious. … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, MMO design, PvP | 14 Comments

DarkFall: “Conquer the Seas” Expansion first impressions

Posted on December 7, 2009 by SynCaine

With one gaming-heavy weekend over, I’m going to talk about what Conquer the Seas has brought to DarkFall, but first let me toss this out for everyone. On one side of the MMO dev spectrum you have Aventurine, and on … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, Housing, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP | 16 Comments